I know I could be a little more patient on the racking, but racking to my keg and letting it sit could also be looked at as a secondary fermentation.

Anyways, with a better bottle, how do you guys usually do the final gravity testing? I know the process of testing for it but i just never want to take the top off and risk contamination/oxidation each time you test it.

I know I could be a little more patient on the racking, but racking to my keg and letting it sit could also be looked at as a secondary fermentation.

Anyways, with a better bottle, how do you guys usually do the final gravity testing? I know the process of testing for it but i just never want to take the top off and risk contamination/oxidation each time you test it.

I use the ported ones with the racking/bottling valve. Haven't started a syphon in 4 years and don't miss it!!! A sample is as easy as opening the valve for a few seconds...

I only cold crash when doing a lager or if I can't get to a beer that's ready for a few weeks. The only problem I've ever had with cloudiness is not enough of it in my kegged wheat beers. My beers are usually clearer than I prefer!!

There a couple of things that could be going on. The first thing I'd suggest is doing a conversion test to see if the conversion is complete. You should have conversion within an hour, but testing will prove it. Iodine is cheap, or use Iodophor if you can't get iodine in your drugstore.

The next thing is that you really need to boil hard, and get a hot break before adding hops or starting your timing. If you're doing a short boil, you very well may not be getting a long enough boil for this to happen. After the hot break, then you can start your timer and boil for 60 minutes.

I'd suggest a tablet of whirlfloc in the boil with 15 minutes left, and then chilling quickly to under 70 degrees to get a great cold break.

Those should really help. At this point, I'm not sure if you have a protein haze or a starch haze, but those steps will fix both.

__________________Broken Leg BreweryGiving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

So basically I just need to make sure all the starches are converted and that all the proteins are coagulated and in the trub instead of floating in my beer. I'm also gonna try Irish moss for the first time ever.

What's the benefit of chilling the beer super fast? I have an immersion chiller but it might not chill as fast as a chillzilla

I only cold crash when doing a lager or if I can't get to a beer that's ready for a few weeks. The only problem I've ever had with cloudiness is not enough of it in my kegged wheat beers. My beers are usually clearer than I prefer!!

Interesting. Cold crashing is the only way I've been able to eliminate chill haze. If I don't cold crash, it takes like 2 weeks in the fridge before they pour crystal-clear.

So basically I just need to make sure all the starches are converted and that all the proteins are coagulated and in the trub instead of floating in my beer. I'm also gonna try Irish moss for the first time ever.

What's the benefit of chilling the beer super fast? I have an immersion chiller but it might not chill as fast as a chillzilla

Chilling quickly helps to really get the cold break to form- it looks like great big fluffy goobers. I notice that I get a lot of cold break as I get close to 70 degrees in my system, and that the wort is totally clear going into the fermenter.

__________________Broken Leg BreweryGiving beer a leg to stand on since 2006